British Ads Pulled After Angering Career Women, UK Web Site Reports

A billboard has outraged working moms in Britain. Credit: guardian.co.uk

"Career women make bad mothers."

Just kidding. Just kidding.

However, many women didn't find the British Outdoor Advertising Association's little joke very funny. Association officials plastered the five-word slogan across buses and billboards in Britain to show how advertising can catch people's attention.

The signs showed up on some 11,000 billboards and buses in recent days. According to The Guardian,they were supposed to stay up for two weeks. Now they reportedly will be replaced by such eyeball grabbers as "Educashun Isn't Working" and "1966. It Won't Happen This Year" (a reference to England's chances in this summer's World Cup).

"Mumsnetters thought the campaign to be ill-conceived, crass and stupid and the reaction on Mumsnet was a mixture of annoyance, contempt and despair in fairly equal measure," Justine Roberts, co-founder and managing director of the site, tells The Guardian.

"The one on the side of a building today felt like a kick in the stomach. So I am being a decent role model -- and crying blood, sweat and tears for my girl is bad. I don't know what else I can do," says one of the 755 (and counting) contributors to Mumsnet.

Another mum adds: "just can't imagine what it must be like to be a woman working in companies that are doing stuff like this."

Members of the Outdoor Advertising Association can take a hint.

The ad campaign was devised by the British advertising agency Campbell Lace Beta. The agency's strategy head, Sharon Johnson, tellsThe Guardian the outcry is unfortunate -- and misses the point.

"There has been a misunderstanding with an important mothers' forum about this campaign which is about sparking a debate," she tells the newspaper. "It is not what the campaign thinks. But rather than offend people the decision has been taken to replace the posters saying ''Working women make bad mothers' with other slogans which work just as effectively."
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 3)

I wouldn't say it makes them "bad" mothers, just less attentive to their child's needs. Many times, career women can only be there AFTER problems have ocurred. At that point, all they can do is "mop up".

It's not all mothers, but I do agree that some mothers who work can be less attentive to their children. This is not to say that they do not take care of them--because after all, they are providing food and shelter and clothing, and in some cases a nanny. But in terms of emotional support and being able to be in their children's lives more than just a few hours a day, yes, some working mothers can fall short of their non-working counterparts. And even those mothers who work from home have a tendancy to wave off their children if they have important deadlines coming up and must finish their work. It's not to say that this is bad or wrong, because let's face it we all do what we must in order to survive, but I know that from being a nanny in England that while the working parents were able to provide material things, the children would have benefited more from the parents just being with them and talking with them, rather than be bought lots of things. And before all of you nay-sayers out there flood this with negative comments, I just want to say I am not generalizing all working mothers. I know there are some that think they are doing a bang up job at working and parenting, and perhaps you are. But there are those that can't do both 100% effectively--I'm just saying what I've seen.

What is the difference between being a bad mother and being a mother who is inattentive to her children?

The facts are indesputible: children raised with at least one parent at home (sex of the parent doesn't matter) are safer, healthier, smarter, happier and more successful later in life. Certainly not EVERY child gets those results, but in total numbers children with no parent at home do much worse.

So the question is: whose needs matter more, the children or the parents?

Did it ever occur to you that working mothers would do anything to be home with their children but have no choice? I would put my mothering skills (results being my wonderful daughters) against any stay at home mom. I work my butt off, and my girls have me at school when they need me, home when they are sick or off, etc. My girls get to more libraries, plays, playgrounds, museums, zoos, etc than my stay at home counterparts. I do what they do in 40 fewer hours per week. These types of comments drive me crazy. How about when a volunteer is needed for girl scouts, coaching, etc and the only volunteers are full time working moms while the stay at home moms stay quiet? Only there to "mop up"? Give me a break.

and the agency's strategy head, Sharon Johnson, is the worst mother of all i guess. obviously, the british equivelant of child protective services needs to investigate her before she does irreparable harm to HER kids (if she has any) i mean really, WHAT part of ''Working women make bad mothers'" is so hard to misunderstand? you say you didn't "mean it"? then WHY in the world did you do it? i am SICK and TIRED of the "i'm sorry if you MISUNDERSTOOD me" apologies. no, that's no apology, saying i'm sorry does NOT put the onus on the VICTIM! you are an IDIOT ms. johnson, and i don't care if you ARE offended by my insult! i do NOT apologize!

My initial reaction to this is "what trash." -My second reaction is "if I knew what companies were using these idiots for advertising, I would certainly boycott their products or services." No one has the right to belittle another person when they're doing their best to get by (most Mommies don't have nannies, and a lot of them are trying to get along without Daddies or child support). The best way to get any company's attention is via their bank account. And I absolutely agree that Sharon Johnson should be paying a lot more attention to the content of her company's ad slogans.

Sharon Johnson's comment, "They miss the point" is on point. Outdoor advertising does get your attention and is effective, if it affects you. Since when do you have to agree with the message?? I don't agree with most advertising messages, so what? Advertising is not meant to appeal to everyone, and is understood not to be truthful. It is abundantly clear the message applies to many working mothers, as well as those who don't work -- guilt may have played a larger role in the overwhelming response rather than the quality of the message. You have a supporter Sharon -- keep up the GOOD WORK!!!

Unfortunately, I do feel that the way the family core was originally set up (Mom w/ the kids and Dad at work) worked much better for the family unit. The kids benefited from Mom being home, talking with them, building their ego as well as their intelligence, teaching them right from wrong, responsibility and most importantly making them feel loved & secure! They are kids, not chicks ... if they didn't need parenting they would have been hatched on the side of the road! There were fewer divorces ... fewer problems!! Mom was the 'bomb' the glue of the family!I feel that if you want to work ... wonderful, go for it...use that degree! However, if you want a family and children ... go for it, use that common sense!! Do your job well and completely. You cannot have your cake and eat it too!! The children are our future ... they are the MOST important job you could have been BLESSED with!! You would not think twice about doing your big corporate job half-assed so don't do your parenting job that way either...we all are depending on you...the kids and we who will live in the future are depending on you!

Actually, I am a stay-at-home Mommy by choice, and I adore it. I'm still trying to get a writing career up, but, it is something that I would do FROM home, so that I could still stay home with my babies.

And, I agree with you that it helps build up their intelligence and self-esteem to have a parent at home. I'm not knocking the people that have to or even choose to go out and work by saying this. I'm only saying I feel blessed to be able to stay with them, and, that I'm sick of getting "knocked" myself by feminists for NOT being a "career woman".

Feminism is about choice. If I choose to be a wife and mom first and foremost, then that's mine.

We have the same debate in this country, the leader being Dr. Laura and her over the top nonsense about working mothers. The ad is up there with, "Nuke the whales." The hyperbolic insensitivity is intended to make people think. Instead, everybody has become so politically correct that they're no longer capable of stopping to THINK about the issues being addressed before they over react. Such stupidity is, unfortunately, not terminal. It makes me think that Darwin was wrong.

Moms, working outside of the home or in, all work. Somehow, it must be a genie, the clothes are all clean, folded and hanging in the closets. Magically, the mess in the kitchen is gone, the floors swept, washed, and vacuumed. . Moms who do work outside of the home might not feel up to scrubbing the stove, but the ones I've known, myself included, always manage to give an encouraging word or a hug. The ad is insulti8ng in so many ways to all mothers.